Tag Archive for: #kerrtarregionalcouncilofgovt

Kerr Tar Regional Council of Governments

Town Talk 11/18/20: Mental Health & the Holiday Blues

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100.1 FM ~ 1450 AM ~ WIZS, Your Community Voice ~ Click to LISTEN LOCAL

Nancy Hux, the community engagement specialist with Cardinal Innovations Healthcare, appeared on WIZS Town Talk Wednesday at 11 a.m. Nancy Francis, director with the Kerr-Tar Agency on Aging, facilitated the segment.

This edition of Town Talk is a paid advertising sponsorship with the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments.

With over 20 years in the mental health field, Hux currently provides training in the areas of mental health, substance use and intellectual developmental disabilities.

With the holidays quickly approaching, and with the COVID-19 pandemic and related news still very much a part of daily life, Hux said now is an opportune time to discuss mental health.

“Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being,” Hux explained. “It affects how we think, feel, and act. Our mental health determines how we handle stresses in our lives, how we react or respond in our relationships with others and determines the choices we make. Mental health is important at every stage of life – from childhood to adolescence and throughout adulthood.”

Hux said one in five people, while not necessarily officially diagnosed, will experience a mental health issue in any given year.

“No one is immune to mental health issues, so that is why it is so important to know yourself and know when you are not feeling your best. It’s also important to identify key people in your life that you are comfortable reaching out to when you need to talk,” said Hux.

While there are many mental health disorders, the most common are anxiety and depression.

“Life affects our mental health,” Hux said. “I typically tell people in our trainings that as long as you are living, life happens, and when life happens, it brings with it the ups and downs that affect our mental health.”

Signs of a mental health issue include:

  • Changes in how you feel (both mentally and physically)
  • Less desire to do the things that you used to enjoy (hobbies, socializing, etc.)
  • Changes in sleep patterns (sleeping too much or not sleeping enough)
  • Changes in your appetite (eating too much or not enough)
  • Becoming more emotional or less emotional

With COVID-19 changing routines and social interactions, the holidays will look very different for many this year. According to Hux, one of the best ways to ease loneliness is to reach out to someone else, in a safe manner, that may also be lonely.

Tips for reaching out include:

  • Ask a friend or loved one to pick up greeting cards and stamps so you can handwrite cards and mail them to your friends and family. You could also include one of your simple, favorite recipes for them to cook during the holidays.
  • Reach out by phone; it will brighten your day as well as theirs.
  • Talk to others online with programs such as Zoom.
  • Stay spiritually healthy; identify what is important to you spiritually and keep those practices in place (reading, listening to music, meditation, etc.). Attend church online.
  • Decorate for the holidays, even if you are not having the traditional family get together.
  • Have a friend drop off a holiday or Christmas puzzle to put together or do word search or crossword puzzles.
  • Talk with your physician about your health and a safe level of exercise.

Additional resources include:

  • Local Senior Centers
  • Meals on Wheels programs that provide one meal a day for five-to-seven days a week; check with your local Council on Aging programs for assistance.
  • Your general physician/doctor’s office.

Cardinal Innovations Healthcare also has a network of providers that are available to assist with linking you to professional counselors, therapists or other resources. Please call 1-800-939-5911 or visit online at www.cardinalinnovations.org.

To hear the interview in its entirety, go to WIZS.com and click on Town Talk.

(This edition of Town Talk is part of a paid advertising sponsorship with the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments.)

Kerr Tar Workforce and NCWorks

Town Talk 09/14/20: NCWorks Opens New Location at VGCC’s Warren Co. Campus

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100.1 FM ~ 1450 AM ~ WIZS, Your Community Voice ~ Click to LISTEN LOCAL

Monica Satterwhite, center manager for the NCWorks Career Center, and Lou Grillo, interim workforce development director with Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments, appeared on WIZS’ Town Talk Monday at 11 a.m.

Satterwhite discussed the recent relocation of Warren County’s NCWorks Center to Vance-Granville Community College’s Warren County Campus. The new office, which held a ribbon-cutting last week, is located in Building One, Room 1106. The phone number remains (252) 257-3230.

NCWorks Career Centers offer residents job opportunities by matching marketable skills with available employment opportunities.

While in-person services are available, especially for those in need of access to a computer, Satterwhite said the majority of services can be done virtually at this time. Online services include resume building, career assessments, workshops, hiring events and more.

“We are really happy that Vance-Granville was willing to host us, and we’re looking forward to working with the community to help everyone find the jobs that they need,” said Satterwhite.

Satterwhite recommends participants complete a skills assessment to gauge their strengths and determine how they match up with available job opportunities.

Current in-demand jobs include those in the field of manufacturing, health and life sciences, IT and construction.

Grillo, whose agency works to initiate contact between partners such as NCWorks and VGCC, said one particular service – on-the-job training – can be especially beneficial to employee and employer alike.

“Every employer wants to hire the 10-out-of-10 worker, but sometimes you have a person that has the right education but doesn’t have the work experience yet,” said Grillo. “The on-the-job training program allows the person to have an opportunity they wouldn’t have been given before. The company actually gets the incentive of having that person’s wages subsidized up to a six-month period where we can sometimes pay from 50-75 percent of that person’s wages while they learn the job.”

Satterwhite explained that NCWorks can match participants with jobs from a wide range of areas and is not limited to the county of its physical office location. In addition to its new Warren County location, NCWorks offers in-person services locally in Vance and Granville County.

The Vance County office is located at 857 S. Beckford Drive in Henderson and is available by appointment by calling (252) 438-6129.

The Granville County office is located at 111 Hilltop Village in Oxford and is available by appointment by calling (919) 693-2686.

For more information, please visit www.ncworks.gov or the NCWorks Career Center-Kerr Tar Facebook page.

To hear the interview in its entirety, go to WIZS.com and click on Town Talk.

Kerr Tar Regional Council of Governments

Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments Receives $1.2 Million CARES Act Grant

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100.1 FM ~ 1450 AM ~ WIZS, Your Community Voice ~ Click to LISTEN LOCAL

-Information courtesy U.S. Department of Commerce press release

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding $8.4 million in CARES Act Recovery Assistance grants to capitalize and administer Revolving Loan Funds (RLFs) that will provide critical gap financing to small businesses and entrepreneurs in North Carolina that have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

“These investments come at a crucial time to help North Carolina’s and our nation’s economy come roaring back and provide hard-working Americans with new opportunities,” said Dana Gartzke, Performing the Delegated Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “Small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities, and EDA is pleased to invest these CARES Act funds to help North Carolina businesses with their capital needs as they respond to coronavirus.”

Locally, the Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments, Henderson, North Carolina, will receive a $1.2 million EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to assist small businesses by providing much-needed capital through a RLF that will serve coronavirus impacted businesses in Franklin, Granville, Person, Vance, and Warren counties.

The CARES Act, signed into law by President Donald J. Trump, provides EDA with $1.5 billion for economic development assistance programs to help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

On May 7, Secretary Ross announced that EDA is accepting applications for CARES Act Recovery Assistance funding opportunities.

EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance, which is being administered under the authority of the bureau’s flexible Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) program, provides a wide range of financial assistance to eligible communities and regions as they respond to and recover from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

For complete information, please visit EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance page.